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First introduced to the House floor by South Carolina's James Henry Hammond, the gag rule was a radical measure designed to completely eliminate debate dealing with abolition. Traditionally, representatives received and tabled antislavery prayers, or buried them in committee; the gag rule, however, prevented even this formality from taking place. This was not a spontaneous development, but a response...

Commonly referred to as the Little Magician' of President Andrew Jackson, Van Buren was a Northern Democrat who did not own slaves. As such, his victory in the 1836 election was by no means inevitable; he was widely considered a compromising Yankee who could not be trusted to respect states' rights or slavery. Southern whites already felt greatly threatened by the perceived expansion of Abolitionism...

The early 1800's were an interesting time in the Southern economy, as cotton prices both boomed and then began to dip. By 1830, prices had bottomed out in at 9 cents per pound, and Southerners searching for the cause narrowed in on Federal tariffs, specifically the Tariff of 1828. Newspapers such as the Charleston Mercury on August 3 argued that the tariff resulted in the annihilation of commerce'...

ohn Stapleton, an English attorney, handled the affairs of several Charleston properties included in the estate of Mrs. Hannah Bull. He managed the sale of her slaves, cattle, hogs, sheep and other effects of Mrs. Bull's properties after her death. In a letter to Higham, Fife & Co. dated May 20, 1836, Stapleton detailed the sale of several slaves and included the titles. As the attorney, the money...

On July 7, 1820, the American Colonization Society took out an advertisement in the Norfolk and Portsmouth Herald. The ad, which was actually more of an announcement, concerned the need for equipment, tools, food, and other supplies by the colonists whom the Society sponsored. These colonists were free African Americans who had volunteered to set up a black colony on the west coast of the African continent....

Throughout 1830, the number of slave holders in Maryland was declining, and those who remained were fighting a losing battle to maintain control over the state government. In 1830, white slaveholders consisted of only 35% of the white population of Maryland, yet controlled 60% of the seats in the state legislature -- a fact which was all to prevalent to many anti-slavery whites and to free blacks....

The Keowee Courier published Senator Butler's contention that shocked the local town of South Carolina that the Southern Press was not to be found in the North. His statement read that not a Southern newspaper is to be seen in a large newspaper reading room in Washington D.C. Finally, the Courier insisted that Southerners must open their eyes to the truth and tyranny of the North. The way to counteract...

It was a solemn scene to witness wrote the Keowee Courier on April 1st, 1850. One of the greatest political figures of the 19th century had just died and the atmosphere surrounding his death was incredible. Both Chambers were crowded to overflowing, and the stillness that pervaded the vast assemblage told plainly that some great calamity had happened to the country. Calhoun, born in Abbeville in 1782,...

The inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, the beginning of a new presidential term and a new era, would be the end of the old Union. According to historian William Freehling, "none of Lincoln's 26,375 southern votes came from the Lower South and only 1887 from the Middle South (all in extreme northwestern Virginia)." Lincoln kept quiet between the time of his election and the delivery of his inaugural address...

Virginia residents opened up their newspapers one morning in December 1832 and discovered an address from the governor, John Floyd. He wrote to the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates in regards to the South Carolina Nullification Ordinance, and the newspaper posted this as an article for locals. Floyd explained that South Carolina felt the Tariffs took advantage of it and the state had "declared...